The beautiful home of Samuel Marshall Robinson and his wife, Emma Louisa Prosser, in about 1885. Notice the several family members on the lawn. See the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Cultural Resources database listing for this house at http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/phmc_display.cfm?KeyNo=012277
The Robinson brick house is out of view, on the left, in this photo. This portion of the yard (according to family and local lore) is the site of the first three houses which were the successive homes of Dr. Simeon Hovey and his wife Mary Ann (Polly) Truby--Aunt Hovey--and their adopted family; and later, the home of his nephew and her niece, Elisha Robinson and his wife, Elizabeth (Betsy) Rohrer.
A bucolic scene from the Elisha and Betsy Robinson Farm, circa 1860, with family members and buildings in view.
The Robinson Home, circa 1860--the house which immediately preceded the Samuel M. Robinson brick house of the 1870s. Notice the family members along the fence. If our best-guess orientation is correct, the road in the foreground is now Robinson Road, with the Hovey-Robinson barn to the left and the present-day Robinson Chapel across nearby Bennertown Road, to the right of this structure.
Samuel M. Robinson (1830-1908); oil painting. Robinson was the son of Elisha Robinson (1791-1874) and Elizabeth "Betsy" Rohrer (1791-1881); he married Emma Louisa Prosser (1838-1916); and they were the parents of seven children. Robinson was named for his mother's half-brother, Samuel Marshall (1801-1835).
Emma Louisa Prosser Robinson (1838-1916); oil painting. Emma was the wife of Samuel Marshall Robinson; she was the daughter of Charles Prosser (abt. 1808 - abt. 1850) and Eliza Brinker (1808-1887). She shares her middle name with her grandmother, Louisa Moser Brinker (1779-1850), wife of early Butler County settler Captain Abraham Brinker (1774-1850). She was the mother of seven children, all of whom lived in this house.
Samuel M. Robinson (1830-1908); oil painting at a younger age.
Samuel M. Robinson--a photograph when he was--perhaps--in his 30s (the 1860s).
The Brick House, circa the 1910s.
2006--a view of the house from the northwest side.
1874 Keystone, with the carved initials "SMR"--Samuel Marshall Robinson. 1874 was the year his father, Elisha Robinson, died.
The date 1877, with the carved initials SMR on the front porch steps, left side.
Family and (perhaps) friends gathered on the side porch.
Frederick Augustus Robinson (1878-1925) with his dog, on the front porch. He was named for his great-uncle, Colonel Frederick Augustus Rohrer (1794-1882) of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Col. Rohrer was his Grandmother Robinson's brother.
Fred Robinson (1878-1925) with dog and horse, near the house.
Through this lovely window can be seen the Chinese ginko tree, which became part of local lore.
Interior detail -- the parlor windows. The family entertained from this room and as well, it was from this room they were buried.
Interior Detail
Interior detail -- the classic staircase, looking down from the attic
Pump Organ
Interior Detail--Cellar
Exterior Detail
The barn built in the early 1800s by Dr. Simeon Hovey--most likely, the oldest structure in Hovey Township. See the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Cultural Resources database listing for the barn: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/phmc_display.cfm?KeyNo=012278
Barn Detail
Farm Wagon
One of several out-buildings behind the house.
Looking southeast, toward the Allegheny River, from the back yard of the house.
Another view from the house's backyard, looking southeast.
Charles Samuel Lord Robinson (1912-2002) was the last family member to live in the house. He enjoyed telling me the family's stories of Native American gatherings on the broad expanse of flat farm land behind the house, in the years before Dr. Hovey staked a white man's claim to the land. He recalled often finding arrowheads and other artifacts here as a child.
A rare example of the American chestnut tree, in the back yard not far from the area kept as flower gardens by Elizabeth "Bess" Rohrer Robinson. A daughter of Samuel and Emma Robinson, she was the last family member to keep the place as a working farm. Born in 1869 before the house was built, she died here in 1958.
Sam Robinson (right) and Kelly Marshall; February 2005. On this site in about 1797, Dr. Simeon Hovey laid claim to land which would remain in our family for 208 years. Sam Robinson of New Hampshire, heir of the Samuel Marshall Robinson home and much of the Hovey-Robinson land, had invited me to go through the house with him prior to the sale of the property. Here, Aunt Hovey had made a home for some of her Rohrer and Marshall nephews and nieces, upon the death of her sister--our common ancestor--Catharina Truby Rohrer Marshall. Our two branches of the family traveled from this site, and back again to it, in a fluid movement which spanned two centuries. As Sam and I met on that cold, bright February day, I'm not sure either of us then caught the import of the occasion: a Robinson and a Marshall, standing here together and representing all the Marshall and Robinson generations who had lived in and near this place, before.
